HPE Makes AI, Analytics Play With MapR Acquisition

MapR's assets are slated to be combined with those of other parts of HPE's data analytics capabilities to provide a wider platform for edge-to-cloud artificial intelligence, machine learning, and analytics.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise is acquiring the business assets of MapR, including its technology and intellectual property, in a move to build out its AI and analytics business.

HPE on Monday unveiled its acquisition of MapR's assets for an unspecified sum, and said the MapR assets will become part of HPE's Intelligent Data Platform, with the MapR enterprise-grade file system and cloud-native storage services set to complement HPE's BlueData container platform strategy.

Santa Clara, Calif.-based MapR is a developer of a data platform for harnessing, managing, and protecting data, and provides AI and analytics technology for data-driven transformation.

[Related: HPE Intelligent Data Platforms And InfoSight Predictive Analytics: 9 Things To Know]

MapR has of late been struggling to grow. The company in May discussed potential layoffs, and said it was looking at the possibility of either being acquired or pursuing additional financing.

The MapR Data Platform lets users store, manage, process, and analyze all data, including files, tables, and streams, to help provide mission-critical reliability to meet customers' production SLAs. It runs on-premises, in the cloud, and in the edge to provide data services for exabyte scale and high performance.

The company takes advantage of multiple analytics and open source tools including Apache Hadoop, Apache Hbase, Apache Sparc, Apache Drill, and Apache Hive.

HPE has made the use of AI and data analytics a key focus of its development. The company's InfoSight predictive analytics technology, which it received with its 2017 acquisition of Nimble Storage, is in the process of becoming part of a wide swath of HPE's data center portfolio.

Antonio Neri, HPE president and CEO, said in a prepared statement that the winners in a new era of intelligence will be those who can harness the power of data regardless of where it sits.

"MapR’s file system technology enables HPE to offer a complete portfolio of products to drive artificial intelligence and analytics applications and strengthens our ability to help customers manage their data assets end to end, from edge to cloud," Neri said in that statement.